Transportinfo.org.uk - today's transport news in the uk, hand picked for you each morning

Friday, 30 March 2018

Cogitamus

• 🐣🐥 Happy Easter from the Cogitamus team at TransportInfo 🐣🐥🐣🐥TransportInfo will be taking a short break over the Easter holiday and will not be updated on 31 March and 1 & 2 April. We'll see you bright and early on Tuesday 3 April. 🐣🐥

BBC News

• Disabled woman wins BA flight refund battleRachel Monk, who has cerebral palsy, was told she had to buy a new ticket after a carer quit.
• The rubbish floating on London's Grand Union CanalOne of London's major canals is littered with discarded bottles, food packaging and general rubbish.
• Volkswagen's car 'graveyard' in CaliforniaVolkswagen has been storing hundreds of thousands of cars after the diesel emissions scandal.
• Air India sale: Who'll buy the debt-laden carrier?The government is to try to sell a 76% stake in the airline in a long-awaited privatisation.
• VW to buy back cars hit by German city diesel bansVolkswagen says it will buy back new or nearly new diesel cars affected by diesel bans in German cities
• Air passengers sending bailiffs to airlinesPassengers are sending bailiffs in to airlines - including EasyJet - to get compensation.
• Car hire cost clean-up continuesHolidaymakers should now be safer from hidden charges when hiring a car from a UK firm, authorities say.

Department for Transport

• Airline Insolvency Review to examine protection for air passengersReview will consider a range of options to protect consumers in the event that the airline they use collapses.

The Scotsman

• ScotRail train shortage prompts UK-wide search for stand-ins ScotRail is in a race against time to find more stand-in trains to avert further overcrowding because of delays to a brand new fleet.

Times Online

• Go-Ahead switches inflation index for pensions to CPIThe transport group Go-Ahead has agreed to move annual inflation increases on a final salary scheme for bus workers from the retail prices index to the consumer prices index.
• Inquiry into motorway petrol prices [Subscription]Motorway service stations are to face an inquiry into the prices they charge for fuel. Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, has asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate the three biggest service station operators, Moto, Welcome Break and Roadchef, which control the majority of motorway services.

Transport Committee

• NAO report on electrification cancellation The Transport Committee Chair comments on the National Audit Office report on the cancellation of rail electrification projects.

City AM

• Renault shares surge on report of merger talks with NissanShares in Renault have jumped this morning on reports of a merger between the French automaker and Nissan.

Mail Online

• Motorway services charging up to £14 more than nearby stations Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has written to watchdogs demanding an investigation into sky-high motorway petrol and diesel prices facing UK motorists.

Labour Party

• Andy Slaughter: The Case Against Heathrow Expansion Keeps Getting Stronger – But Will The Government Listen?The publication of the transport select committee report into the Airports National Policy Statement has been interpreted by the government and Heathrow as a green light for expansion to proceed. Whilst the TSC recognised the strategic case for a third runway, the real story is the significant shift in position from a select committee that has long been supportive of a expansion to one that is highly critical of the lack of detail in the plans.

Birmingham Post

• The council is against these M6 billboards - but they may get approved anyway Planning committee says these giant adverts will distract drivers and distress mourners

London Evening Standard

• Disabled NHS doctor's Twitter posts highlight 'hellish' reality of navigating London in a wheelchairWhen disabled NHS doctor Hannah Barham-Brown set out on a 100-mile journey from London to Birmingham via public transport, she could have predicted how it would unfold.
• Easter travel delays: Huge queues at Dover port amid heightened French security checksHolidaymakers heading off for Easter are facing hours of delays at the port of Dover due to heightened French security checks.

Manchester Evening News

• Tram passengers are 'fearful of using Oldham line' after recent attacks near Metrolink stopsPolice are investigating two hammer attacks which took place at Derker and near Oldham King Street stops earlier this month

Wales Online

• Train passenger fined £470 for not paying £2 fare (after he'd just spent £200 on another ticket) After coming off a London to Cardiff train, John Button was expecting to pay the conductor for the last, shorter leg of his journey

Bucks Free Press

• HS2 to tunnel through Chilterns next year - but still 'too early' to say what effect it will have on traffic Contractors for the controversial HS2 will start tunnelling through the Chilterns next year – but project bosses say it is still “too earlyâ€� to say what effect it will have on traffic in Bucks, to the frustration of residents.

Aviation Industry

• Air France braces for March 30 labor strikeAir France expects to operate 76% of its flights during a planned March 30 strike by the carrier’s pilots, cabin and ground crew personnel. read more
• Boeing: Few changes needed to make next 787 rate increase Boeing expects to see few changes on its 787 production lines as it increases the rate from 12 to 14 aircraft per month next year, but continues to tweak processes as part of a general effort to increase efficiency. read more
• Build-up of easyJet Europe fleet continues, one year before BrexitUK LCC easyJet is nearly half-way through the process of transferring 130 of its UK-registered Airbus A319s/A320s to its Vienna-based sibling easyJet Europe. read more

Green Miscellany

• What official cars say about attitudes to air pollutionTwo thirds of Scottish Government ministerial cars are diesel it emerged this week following an investigation by The Scotsman. Under plans to reduce the air pollution that is estimated to cost the lives of over 40,000 people around Britain every year, the dirtiest vehicles are to be banned from city centres in Scotland by 2020. It is disappointing that two… The post What official cars say about attitudes to air pollution appeared first on ETA.

Other News Sources

• Letter of the day: Let the buses run freelyI MUST disagree with two letters on Thursday.